Acquiring a Mount

Bai Jing had little interest in the Dao of artifact refinement. The only reason he had spent time comprehending it was to forge ties with the Three Pure Ones.

Not to mention that the Three Pure Ones were already the foremost innate divine beings, carrying thirty percent of the merit from the creation of heaven and earth, just the Innate Five Directional Banners in Laozi's and Yuanshi Tianzun's hands made Bai Jing covet them greatly.

Covetous as he was, however, Bai Jing did not rashly propose a trade with Laozi and Yuanshi Tianzun for those two Innate Five Directional Banners.

Their relationship was hardly close at present. Moreover, the Three Pure Ones were Heaven-appointed Saints and possessed their own pride. Bai Jing could use the Dao of artifact refinement to draw closer to them, but expecting them to acknowledge him through artifact refinement alone was no different from a fool dreaming in broad daylight.

Bai Jing had long since thought it through. The best way to obtain those two Innate Five Directional Banners from the Three Pure Ones was to stand at the same height as them. As long as he could reach the seventh turn of the Profound Art and become a Saint in the flesh, he would have plenty of opportunities in the future.

Thus, after finishing his discussion of the Dao with Yuanshi Tianzun, Bai Jing proposed taking his leave.

"Fellow Daoist Bai Jing, you are leaving already? This humble Daoist had been thinking of exchanging artifact-refining techniques with you!" Yuanshi Tianzun instinctively tried to keep him.

Before Bai Jing could speak, Laozi beside them shook his head. "Second Brother, Fellow Daoist Bai Jing walks the path of proving the Dao through strength. He must seize the time to comprehend the power of laws. You and Third Brother should also devote yourselves to comprehending the Primordial Purple Qi, so that you may break through to the late stage of Quasi-Saint as soon as possible.

"We Three Pure Ones are Pangu's orthodox lineage. Among all the Heaven-appointed Saints, we should be the first to attain Sainthood. We must not let other matters distract us and delay the opportunity to become Saints."

Yuanshi Tianzun's expression immediately turned solemn. "Eldest Brother is absolutely right. Fellow Daoist Bai Jing, once we attain Sainthood, we shall discuss the Dao again!"

"Good!" With that, Bai Jing saluted the Three Pure Ones. After they returned the gesture, Bai Jing flew away at once.

After leaving Kunlun Mountain, Bai Jing had originally planned to visit Mount Buzhou and see how the Witch Clan was faring. Yet halfway there, he suddenly felt a pang in his heart, as though some opportunity was about to slip through his fingers.

Bai Jing stopped and performed a divination with his fingers.

"The northwest?" Bai Jing muttered. He fully unleashed the White Lotus Escape Art, turning into a streak of white light that shot westward.

Bai Jing flew for more than ten days before stopping in front of a mountain range.

His intuition told him that the opportunity he had sensed more than ten days ago was here.

Bai Jing swept the area with his divine sense and could not help frowning.

There were neither innate restrictions nor any particularly dense gathering of spiritual energy here. It truly did not look like a place where an opportunity lay. Could the item have already been taken?

Bai Jing immediately performed another divination. The result showed that the opportunity was still here and had not been taken away.

"Could this opportunity not be some lifeless object, but a living creature?"

With that thought, Bai Jing swept the area again with his divine sense. Before long, he discovered a strange little beast amid the towering mountains and steep ridges.

The little beast was barely over a meter long, its body covered in a layer of scales that gleamed with a bluish-golden radiance. Every scale resembled a carefully carved work of art.

Its appearance was somewhat similar to a qilin's: a dragon's head, deer antlers, lion's eyes, tiger's back, bear's waist, snake scales, and horse hooves. The only difference was that a qilin should have had an ox's tail, whereas this little beast's tail resembled the stegosaurus Bai Jing had seen in mockumentaries in his previous life—long, with barbs sprouting all along its end.

Such an appearance made the not-so-large little beast seem exceptionally imposing.

What surprised Bai Jing even more was that the little beast had clearly only been born recently, yet its innate physique was remarkably robust, already comparable to that of a Golden Immortal. Its soul, however, was exceedingly frail and filled with a brutal, bloodthirsty aura.

Bai Jing descended and landed before the little beast. The moment it saw him, it attacked without hesitation.

Bai Jing snorted coldly. His powerful pressure slammed the little beast directly onto the ground, leaving it unable to move.

Bai Jing then directly examined the little beast's soul and only then confirmed its origins. This little beast was actually the offspring of an unknown ferocious beast and a green qilin of the Qilin Clan.

The green qilin was the little beast's mother. She had only just entered the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm and was considered mid-level combat strength within the Qilin Clan at the time.

The ferocious beast that had forced itself upon the green qilin, however, had been at the peak of the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm.

After giving birth to the little beast, the green qilin first sealed it with restrictions. Then, using her own bloodline and a secret art of the Qilin Clan, she cleansed the ferocious beast's bloodline within it, helping it shed its mortal frame and transform into a green qilin.

Unfortunately, just as she was about to succeed, the Dragon, Phoenix, and Qilin Clans fell victim to the Devil Ancestor's scheme. The Dragon-Han Calamity completely erupted, and the green qilin could only interrupt the cleansing and go to war. In the end, she perished, body and Dao alike.

Fortunately, with the secret art's help, consciousness had already been born within the little beast's Primordial Spirit. During the years it remained sealed afterward, it had constantly struggled against the ferocious beast's bloodline.

However, that ferocious beast's bloodline was stronger than the green qilin's. If the cleansing had not nearly been completed beforehand, and if not for the restrictions set by the green qilin, the little beast would never have endured for so long.

Now, as time passed, the restrictions laid down by the green qilin had completely failed. Without their aid, the little beast's reason had been utterly devoured by the bloodlust and killing intent within the ferocious beast's bloodline.

Had it not encountered Bai Jing, this little beast would likely have soon drawn the notice of passing innate divine beings through its mad slaughter, only to be casually killed.

Bai Jing raised a finger and touched the little beast between the brows. In the blink of an eye, the Great Dao of Purification cleansed away all the bloodlust and killing intent within the ferocious beast's bloodline, leaving behind only the purest power of that bloodline.

The killing intent in the little beast's eyes rapidly faded. Then it planted its four limbs on the ground, lowered its head, and respectfully thanked Bai Jing. "Thank you, Senior, for saving me."

"No need for thanks. This humble Daoist happens to lack a mount. I see that you possess two powerful bloodlines and a robust physique. Are you willing to become this humble Daoist's mount?"

After pondering for a moment, the little beast nodded in agreement.

"Good. I see that you bear the form of a qilin. From now on, you shall be called Qinglin!"

"Thank you, Master, for bestowing me a name."

"Mm. Open your mind. This humble Daoist will leave a mark in your soul. From now on, you will be this humble Daoist's mount."

Qinglin obediently did as instructed. Bai Jing left a mark within its soul, completely subduing Qinglin.

Qinglin had only just been born, so Bai Jing naturally would not immediately treat it as a mount. No matter what, he had to let it grow for a while first.

With a sweep of his hand, Bai Jing placed Qinglin into the Source-Yang Cauldron. At the same time, he gave Qinglin some resources, allowing it to cultivate as quickly as possible and break through to the Great Luo realm soon so that Bai Jing could ride it.

"I happened to gain some insights into the Dao of artifact refinement during my recent discussion with Yuanshi. I might as well forge a collar for this little fellow."

Bai Jing acted as soon as the thought arose, taking out several materials and beginning to refine them.

Before long, a golden collar was completed. It contained thirty restrictions. When worn, it was a defensive spiritual treasure; when removed, it could also be used for attack. It was quite a good top-grade postnatal spiritual treasure.

Bai Jing put the spiritual treasure into the Source-Yang Cauldron and gave it to Qinglin. Then he rose and flew toward Mount Buzhou.